Seamer Brett Hutton has thrown down the gauntlet to his Nottinghamshire teammates to back up their strong start to the season ahead of their first away trip of 2025.
The Green and Golds will make the short trip to Birmingham to face Warwickshire from tomorrow (18 April), with play beginning at 11am.
“Obviously, it’s a good start for us, but the First-Class game is hard, and we have to back it up at Edgbaston,” said Hutton.
“They’re a team who will be feeling quite good about themselves, and their emotions will be very high, after just getting over the line in a tight game last week.
“Winning a four-day game in that fashion, one that went down to the wire like that, gives you big belief. Our mission will be to take that away from them and put a good performance in.”
Head Coach Peter Moores has named a 13-strong squad for the trip to the second city, with Josh Tongue returning in place of Dillon Pennington.
Pennington picked up a minor side strain against Essex that will rule him out of action in the short-term, but he is being reviewed on a daily basis by club medical staff.
Hutton retains his place after taking four wickets in his first appearance of the season last time out, including the lbw scalp of Essex captain Tom Westley with his very first ball.
“I think I’m in a good spot,” he said. “We have a great squad. It was strange how it happened, that my first ball was a wicket, but you have to take your chances like that when they come.
“We’ve got a lot of good bowlers, many of whom are big names, and you have to take your opportunity when you get it.
“I feel like my game’s in a good place. You can never guarantee anything, but hopefully I’ll be able to put in a good performance for the team.”
As attention turns to Edgbaston, which follows back-to-back home fixtures for the Green and Golds to start the season, Hutton is unswayable in his belief that the squad should be competitive, regardless of the surroundings.
“You expect that it should be easier at home, because it’s more comfortable and you know that it’s your fortress, but we’re a good team and we should be able to perform wherever we are,” he said.
“Edgbaston is still a Test ground, it still has very good facilities and a good pitch. There’s no excuses about going somewhere like that and not performing, especially when we have the team, and the resources that we have, to back it up.”
In particular, Hutton is also confident in his teammates’ shared attitude, and expressed his pride in not just their unbeaten start, but how they have gone about achieving it.
“We’re in a really good spot,” he affirmed. “Lads have made big contributions, as we’ve seen with the hundreds in the two games, but it’s the fight and resilience that we’ve shown too.
“Four-day cricket is a tough game, and there have been setbacks along the way that we’ve fought back from and been able to push home the results from there.
“I think things are a lot easier when you’re on top and everything is going well,” he continued.
“To be able to turn situations around when they’re not going great, and to be able to put the other team back under pressure, is so important.
“[Opposition teams] are allowed to play well for half an hour, an hour, but for us to show the fight that we have in these past two games, was brilliant.
“To be able to get over the line in the first one and then to put ourselves in the position where we were sort of safe in the second one, was [great].”
